IDF 'cleaning out Hamas in Shechem'

Very large Nahal Brigade forces arrested over 40 Hamas terrorist suspects in the city overnight.

By Kobi Finkler, Gil Ronen

First Publish: 6/17/2014, 8:44 AM

Preparing for operation in Shechem.

IDF Spokesman's Unit

Very large Nahal Brigade forces arrested over 40 Hamas terrorist suspects in the city of Shechem overnight.

A senior military source said that the activity focused on Shechem and the refugee neighborhoods in its vicinity following intelligence information that was obtained in the course of the last few days.

The IDF search operations have led to the confiscation of many weapons, including a laboratory for production of armaments. “We are utilizing the event to clean out the territory, as far as Hamas is concerned,” the source said.

The soldiers have not encountered resistance thus far and the operations have been carried out smoothly. The senior source said that there is a very meaningful effort to locate the abductees in the Hevron area, alongside the activity in other sectors.

Pressure on Gaza was stepped up overnight Monday. IAF jets attacked a terror activity site and a weapons storage site in southern Gaza, another weapons storage site in central Gaza, and a weapons production facility in northern Gaza. These strikes followed the firing of a terror rocket at Israel Monday night.

Accurate hits on target were identified, according to the IDF Spokesman's Unit.